Looking to 100 years of consolidated growth

The TCC Group started from one man’s dream of establishing a shipping company that would one day sail across Asia and beyond, begun by C.S. Koo in Hong Kong in 1917. From those early beginnings, the dream has been transformed over almost a century into the shipping legacy that is TCC today — celebrating its 95th anniversary in 2012.

Kenneth Koo, chairman of TCC Group.

“For the TCC Group, 2012 is about looking ahead, especially as our business approaches its centennial in 2017,” says TCC’s chairman and the third generation of his family run it, Kenneth Koo. “We aim to build a stronger foundation for the company that prepares it for the next 100 years. After my grandfather, the business was further developed by my father and uncle until it became my turn in 2005. Each one had his own contribution to the company. I feel that my role in this generation is to focus on insitutionalization and ensure that what the two elder generations worked so hard to develop is perpetuated in the future.”

Today, TCC is one of the world’s top providers of dry and liquid bulk cargo carriers in the international shipping sector. Through its own TCC Institute for Emissions Reduction from Marine Diesel Engines (TIER-MDE) program, it is currently testing solutions, through the use of nano-second pulsed power electronics in its fleet, that could result in more affordable ocean shipping, less fuel consumption and minimal production of greenhouse gases and other harmful pollutants.

“We are very proud of the fact that for three generations, we are committed to the in-house management of our fleet to the highest uncompromising standards,” explains Koo. We also have our own in-house training and cadet programs for all our seamen, ensuring that only the highest standards and a healthy continuity of promotion of generations of officers and ratings are realized.”

Furthermore, Koo points to his company’s close relationship with Japan’s “Big Three” shipping firms, based on TCC’s credibility built up over decades and its custom-made solutions for clients, as key strengths.

This year marks the group’s 45th anniversary of its partnership with K-Line, its 42nd anniversary with NYK and its 41st anniversary with MOL Japan. These bonds are testaments to TCC’s commitment to serve and satisfy its valued client-partners in Japan. Around the rest of the world, it is also exploring ambitious new partnerships with leading oil and mining companies.

From left to right: The former TCC Group co-chairmen K.H.Koo and K.W.Koo, and the current TCC Group Chairman Kenneth Koo.

“We are always looking for ways to better serve our partners,” Koo concludes. “We are trying to develop a special niche relationship with each client, finding new areas of collaboration and keeping costs and risk low — ultimately creating a win-win situation for us both.”

KHK vision is a ship owned by the TCC Group, a shipping company that has been sailing strongly in Hong Kong’s shipping industry.